As musical instruments, handpans may be in of an idiophone class of instruments. Idiophone instruments may be any musical instrument that may create sound primarily by the musical instrument as a whole vibrating, without use of strings or membranes.
A handpan may comprise an upper hemisphere and a lower hemisphere in integral communication with the upper hemisphere. The Upper hemisphere may be referred to as a “ding side.” The ding side may comprise a center note area, and a plurality of surrounding note areas (often elliptical). A boundary, e.g., a dividing rim, may divide the upper hemisphere from the lower hemisphere.
The lower hemisphere may be known as the “gu side.” This gu side may comprise at least one bass cavity, hereinafter, a cavity. The cavity may comprise a cavity diameter. The cavity diameter, in various handpans, may vary from about 7 centimeters (cm) to about 9 cm. The cavity may comprise at least one externally accessible opening. The cavity may generally be cylindrical in shape, with side walls and closed at a distal end opposite of the at least one externally accessible opening. A depth of the cavity, in various handpans, may vary from about 18 cm to about 22 cm. The depth of the cavity, in various handpans, may vary from about 15.5 cm to about 26 cm. This depth of the cavity may extend into a volume partially circumscribed by the upper hemisphere.
The handpan may comprise a total outside diameter, as measured from one side of the dividing rim to an opposing side of the dividing rim. In some handpans, this total outside diameter may be about 52 cm. In some handpans, this total outside diameter may be about 48 cm to about 60 cm. A total height, as measured from the lower hemisphere to a farthest point of the upper hemisphere, may be greater than the depth of the cavity. In various handpans, this total height may be about 24 cm to about 26 cm. In various handpans, this total height may be about 16 cm to about 29 cm.
In terms of mass, various handpans may be about 5.44 kg (i.e., 12 pounds [lbs] in weight). In terms of mass, various handpans may be about 3.18 kg (7 lbs) to about 7.26 kg (16 lbs).
Handpan musical instruments may also be known as: “hand pan,” HANG, HALO, BELLS, GUBAL, sound sculpture, and the like; and with various styles, dimensions, and design generations from sources such as PanArt, Pantheon Steel, BellArt, and the like.
Currently such handpans may be stored by users in a traveling bag, such as a luggage piece configured to house one or more handpans. However, there is currently no hanging nor mounting means for removably mounting the handpan to a substrate such as a wall. It would be desirable to removably mount the handpan to the substrate, for a storage purpose and/or for an ornamental display purpose, as removably mounting the handpan to the substrate may present a natural beauty of the handpan, much in the way a three dimensional sculpture might be displayed upon a wall.
Existing hooks and hangers have been attempted to be used for this removable substrate mounting purpose and found undesirable at best or a plain failure as more often the case. Existing art of hooks and hangers have several problems.
First, many existing hooks and/or hangers are structurally configured to removably hold garments, such as jackets or hats. Such existing hooks and/or hangers do not extend far enough into the handpan cavity to provide a reliable mounting means, that is, the handpan either falls off of the existing hook and/or the existing hanger; or easily falls off the existing hook and/or the existing hanger. The reason such existing garment hooks and/or hangers do not extend sufficiently into the handpan cavity, is because a length of the existing garment hook and/or hanger arm is too short; and an angle of divergence (as measured from the arm of the existing hook or the existing hanger to the substrate) is too narrow, often being less than 50 degrees.
Second, such existing hooks and/or such existing hangers generally comprise a transverse width that is so small (too narrow) as not to provide any side-to-side stability when the handpan cavity may be removably mounted or attempted to be removably mounted to the existing hook and/or the existing hanger. That is, because of the narrowness of the existing hook and/or the existing hanger, the handpan is easily knocked off of the existing hook and/or the existing hanger. This may damage the handpan and may also provide a dangerous and undesirable condition wherein the foreseeable and probable fall may injure someone, other property, and/or animals.
Third, such existing hooks and/or such existing hangers are not made to continually sustain constant static loads of about 12 pounds (lbs) (or about 7 to 16 lbs for other handpans), a typical weight of handpans, and over a short time such existing hooks and/or hangers fail by breaking, fail by coming detached from the substrate, and/or bending or deforming out of shape to where the handpan may not be removably mounted to the existing hook and/or the existing hanger. For example, some such existing hooks and/or existing hangers have been tested and failed by snapping at about 6 months of use.
Some existing hooks and/or existing hangers, e.g., those in use with various shelving systems, may have a sufficient arm length to removably engage a sufficient portion of the handpan cavity, but this class of existing hooks and/or hangers has at least two other problems. One, when such existing hook and/or hanger is not in use, this sufficient arm length often presents a danger to those passing nearby because the arm length is too long. And two, the angle of divergence of this sufficient arm length from the substrate is too wide, often around 90 degrees or more than 70 degrees, which contributes to problem of the arm protruding too far from the substrate. These existing longer shelving arms also suffer the problem with the existing garment hooks and/or the existing hangers of being too narrow in transverse width such that handpan is too wobbly when mounted on the too long and narrow shelving arm, easily falling off. Further, because of these existing longer shelving arms being too long and too minimal in transverse width, the handpan tends to hang with the upper hemisphere ding side facing more towards the ground and not parallel (or not close to parallel) with the substrate (e.g., wall), which detracts from displaying the natural beauty of the handpan.
There is a need in the art for a means to removably mount the handpan to the substrate, i.e., a need for a specifically structured hanger for removably mounting of the handpan to the substrate or within a proximity of the substrate, wherein the arm length is not too short, nor too long, and the angle of divergence, a critical angle, may not be too wide, nor too narrow.
It is to these ends that the present invention has been developed.